The problem with mental health is the subjective nature of the diagnosis. Maybe there is a way around it, but I don’t know. We see this in courts all the time. One doctor says they are competent, the defense can then pay another doctor to say the opposite. Which one is right?

Today most people in the regular prison system have a mental illness issue at the foundation of their problems. So many of the people who would have gone to the MH are in the prison now. Had this kid lived a few more years without mommy’s protection, he’d likely have been arrested for something and started his prison career too.

This particular mass killing event happened because Mom was as much a nut as son and didn’t control her guns very well, and didn’t see the danger either. I think over the coming months we will discover how several people considered this event a possibility but did not act. Even still, how much of your civil rights are you willing to give up? Very slippery slope. Look at how anti-terror laws have become so omni-intrusive and huge expensive.

I am old encough to remember when President Reagan in his efforts to cut the federal budget closed down a large number of mental institutions and simply turned these people out on the streets. I would also submit that when this happened it created an up-tick in the shootings we see today.

The assanation of President Kennedy created a tipping point for the end of guns sent via mail order. You could get a gun for as little as $10 and a coupon from a comic book, Sport Afield, or other magazine advertisement.

President Reagan was the victim of a mentally unstable person who obtained a gun.

I would submit it is not the guns causing the problems but the closure of mental facilities and lack of options for dealing with mentally unstable people causing all manner of random killings with guns. I can think of not instance that the assaults on school kids, political figures and most other mass killings with guns weren’t well thought out but the people with mental issues. We need to rethink putting these folks in a safe environment where they can be monitored and live in a safe secure environment.

I would also submit for your consideration just how many gun related killings like what we have seen happened prior to 1986 and the closure of mental hospitals.

I cried on Friday, for the first time in years. I have a granddaughter that will be 6 next month – that baby is truly the light of my life! The notion that a human being could aim a rifle at innocent little children and start pulling the trigger – that is far beyond horrifying! Jesus said it well – it would be better to tie a millstone around the perp’s neck, and throw him in deep water.

I own several guns. I keep them well-secured. If I thought that giving up my guns would prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again, I’d surrender them in a heartbeat! But the reality is, having the law-abiding citizens turn in their guns would have negligible impact on criminal use of firearms… and it might have the opposite effect.

If I thought that outlawing violent video games or movies would prevent such a tragedy, I’d be on board! But again… the vast majority of people are able to process fantasy and reality, and differentiate between the two.

How do we prevent deeply-disturbed individuals from harming innocents? I don’t think we know. If we did, we wouldn’t be discussing it, we’d be doing it.

My heart is sick. I hope we’re not damaged beyond repair. God, PLEASE bless America!